BuffyD: Sight Seeing
by isoner
Summary: Buffy and the Scobies cross paths with Vampire Hunter D. As complete as it will ever be... maybe.
1. Chance Meeting

We don't own D. We don't own Buffy or any of her friends, but if anyone knows where we can rent Willow and/or Tara at a good rate, please let us know.  
  
This story is a collaboration between MK and Isoner. Rated PG-13, for now.  
  
  
Sight Seeing  
  
  
'For so much to be different,' Buffy thought, 'so much is the same as normal'. Willow, Tara, and Anya was researching with Giles to try and figure out what sort of Apocalypse was about to unfold, while Xander was sent on food runs, and she being a dutiful slayer was patrolling the local cemeteries and Demon haunts. All and all it was business as usual except that she was not in Sunnydale, the small town that seemed to be the epitome of the all American town, that just happened to be built on a hellmouth. Nope, here she was in a small town in England, with no hellmouth to be seen. This thought made her smirk as she thought to herself, 'Guess Sunnydale doesn't have the monopoly on apocalypses after all.'  
  
It had all started about a week ago when Giles had received a telegram. It had been a from a friend or a fellow watcher, or as far as Buffy knew, both could have been the case. It had been simple and to the point, it asked him to bring the slayer. Giles was prepared to bring his young charge…except that Buffy had been adamant about bringing her support team. She could still remember telling Giles that the group could find out more information quicker than the stuffy tweed shirts in the watchers any day, besides she could probably use the back up of two witches, an ex-demon, and well Xander could always provide military knowledge, and had a knack of breaking up the tension that came about by intense research and the killing of the creatures that they fought. Things had just blossomed from there as Dawn had told their mom that she should get to go too, and her mom said it would be a good experience for Dawn to see England, and she needed a vacation herself. She still wasn't sure how they had managed not only to come along, but a nice hotel room downtown on top of it. Things had gotten even stranger when she had received a telegram from the love sick Spike telling her that he would be arriving soon.  
  
Once they had actually arrived in this ideal small port town, they immediately discovered that Giles long lost buddy that had sent them the warning was now the newest resident of the local morgue, and that his house had been ransacked. Now the others were trying to make heads or tails out of what they could find of the mans possessions to figure out what he had been working on that had been dangerous enough to need their help. So while they were having that fun, Buffy was walking around town to speculate on other cosmic events, such as why all cemeteries looked the same after dark no matter where in the world they were located. At least the jetlag was working to her advantage.   
  
She sensed an unnaturalness coming up behind her. She would never understand why vampires always fell for her 'innocent girl strolling through the graveyard' routine. She turned to face them trying for one of her trademark quips, and found that one was just not coming to her at the moment. "Oh forget it, its been a busy night and I just too tired." She spoke into the face of the lead vampire. Her high kick sent him sprawling and by the time the second vampire realized what had happened, Buffy's stake had hit home and he was crumpling to dust around it.  
  
She turned to face the first vampire still lying on the ground and spoke to him, "This is the part where you look all shocked and amazed then say something all inane like 'die slayer'."  
  
He didn't. Instead, he lunged at her growling. He didn't stand, he simply went from lying prone on the ground, to a full fledge flying at her throat. She barely dodged the attack by stepping back, and managed to block his next three blows with her arms. She winced thinking of the bruises she would have in the morning. Then she sensed another presence coming up behind her and knew that she had to end this one quickly. With one as powerful as this one she didn't want to be ganged up on. "You must be older than you look. It's been awhile since I have faced one as powerful as you. How old are you? 5?" She smiled when she realized that he was going to take the bait.  
  
The onslaught paused as he pulled himself up and in a haughty tone glared down at her, "I'll have you know that I am over two thous…" Startled he looked down to find himself impaled on Buffy's stake. "Oh Shi…" was heard as he crumbled to dust.  
  
Buffy didn't even turn, instead she relied entirely on instinct and rolled forward. Even as she did so, she could feel the air rush past from the missed blow across her back. She came up with a roundhouse kick that landed, knocking the newest vamp down. Not waiting for him to get up, she was on him in a heartbeat, her stake landing, turning him to dust as well.  
  
Standing she realized that she was breathing heavily. How long had it been since she had had that kind of workout, and still she knew that she wasn't done. There was one more out there, she could sense it, and this was a powerful one too. All of her extra training with Giles was paying off in the advance-warning department of her slaying abilities, still, she couldn't pinpoint where it was. Shaking her head to clear it she continued on.  
  
A little farther on Buffy found something that she hoped that she wouldn't. The vamps last meal, a family. A man, woman and daughter, definitely dead, with the tale tell puncture marks on their necks. She checked them carefully and found that they wouldn't be coming back changed.   
  
As she was standing from looking over the bodies she found that the fourth vampire was now close, very close. Relying on her instinct once more she brought her stake up in time to block the blow. The sword nearly cleaved the wooden stake in half, and probably would have if the blow hadn't been halted by the attacker.  
  
"You're no vampire." The man said.  
  
Buffy gave the man a once over. Pale complexion, fangs, fashion sense twenty years out of date at least. "No, but you are." She said as she plunged the mostly broken stake into his chest.  
  
The man threw his head back and howled, his fangs elongating in his mouth. Buffy had never heard such a cry of anguish and pain before, then she felt something hot and wet hit her hand. Looking up she saw his shirt darkening with the color of blood. "Oh god." She stammered out, her mind quickly replaying a scene from her past, where Faith staked the Mayor's assistant. In that moment she knew the feeling that Faith had went through. Her mind babbling, horrified, 'not a vampire, human. I've killed a human.' Then the screaming stopped as he fell to the ground.  
  
"Oh god. What do I do?" Scooping the man up she started to carry the man to Giles.  
  
  
  
Xander walked into the house where they were doing the research and set down the food he had picked up from the pub down the street. Pulling out the sacks he set them down and looked at the group. "Here I have brought what they tried to tell me was food, for the much needed research sustenance. I hope fish and chips are alright with everyone." Seeing there nods of agreement he sat down and began doling out the food to everyone. "Well gang what have we found out?"  
  
"Not much of anything really." Willow answered. She looked up from the book she was reading and idly reached up her hand to softly stroke Tara's blonde hair.  
  
"Mr. Giles, do you know anything about this Barbarroy?" Tara softly spoke.  
  
"Barber Roy. Yeah he works down at barber shop." Xander quipped taking a bite of french-fry. "Guh. Is their any salt. That has got to be the blandest french-fry I have ever tasted.  
  
"Yes Xander, I am quite sure everyone here knows of your dislike of English food. Now what were you saying Tara." Giles gave Xander a look.  
  
Tara gingerly picked up a piece of paper that was splattered in blood and held it out for the watcher to see. "There was a mention of a demon called Barbarroy in his journal, then I came across this piece of paper. It is the only thing written on it, so I thought it might mean something to you."  
  
Giles noticed the blonde witch trying to hold the paper without touching any of the bloodstains. He walked around the table to take the piece of paper out of her hands. Looking at it he saw that there was indeed only one word on the paper. "Barbarroy? I can't say that it rings any bells. Anyone else?" He looked around at the group of young people and noticed Anya had gone pale. "Anya, do you know anything about them?"  
  
"I know enough to stay away from him." She answered.  
  
Giles sighed as he asked, "Is there anything else you can add?"  
  
"Barbarroy was something of a mercenary… Mercenaries and Vengeance Demons don't socialize much."  
  
"Yes, be that as it may, we should probably get some rest, and begin bright and early tomorrow morning on research." Giles began when suddenly the door burst open. Whirling around he realized something was drastically wrong when he saw a panic stricken Buffy holding a man, who apparently had a stake through his heart.  
  
The others stood, just looking at each other, and wondering what to do. Strangely enough it was Tara who stood up to take charge. "Giles could you go get me some warm water. Buffy put him on the couch, then go upstairs and find me some rags, towels, anything like that. Anya find me something to prop under his head, and Willow get our bag with our supplies in it." She then went over to the man on the couch once she saw that the others were moving to do her bidding. When Willow returned with their bag she took out the scissors, and cut his shirt off of him. Looking up it appeared that he was unconscious. When everyone had retuned she put the warm water down on the floor and put some herbs that were good for disinfecting and pain killing into the water, then with Buffy's help placed a pillow under his head. Cutting up the towel that Buffy had brought she put it in the pan of water, and then started wiping the blood off his chest, cleaning the wound as best she could, and held slight pressure around the stake.   
  
"Giles, oh god, Giles, h-he was human." She paced around the couch, hovering between Giles and the wounded man. "I killed a human, like Faith. Giles." Buffy stuttered out as tears began coursing down her face.  
  
"Bloody Hell!" Giles ran over to the man and began to check him over. Placing his hand on his neck he felt a faint pulse. "He's still alive. Call an ambulance." With the man's pale complexion, and slightly pronounced incisors Giles could see why his slayer had made the mistake, but it was a mistake a Slayer could not afford to make.   
  
"No. No ambulance." The mans voice was raspy but strong and commanding. He continued, "Dig a shallow hole. Bury me. Leave my head uncovered."  
  
"Wha…" Xander began.  
  
"Do it." The man ordered in a flat tone taking time to look at everyone in the room.  
  
They all looked at him and Giles still looking into the man's eyes spoke, "Xander, find a shovel and dig him a hole."  
  
When Xander came back inside to say that he had the hole dug, he and Buffy picked him up gently and carried him out the door that Giles held open for them. Xander noticed that the man was tall, but thin as Buffy placed his head and upper body down into the hole making sure that his head had plenty of space to be outside of the hole when they placed the dirt over him. Xander then lay his feet and legs into the hole and began filling in the dirt over him as he requested. When the two had finished the task they looked up at Giles.  
  
"Buffy. What happened?" Giles asked the slayer gently. She looked like she was about to jump out of her skin.  
  
"I was patrolling the cemetery. I had killed three vampires, but I felt another presence. It felt, old, powerful. I had just found the family that the other vampires had finished feeding on when this guy comes up. I blocked his sword with my stake, and I remember thinking that it should have cut through the stake. Then he looked at me and said that I wasn't a vampire. I looked at him, and he was pale, and he had these fangs, besides did you see what he is wearing, I mean come on, he looks like an 70's fashion victim." Buffy babbled out. "I didn't realize that he was human. He looked like a vampire, I mean he had fangs. Or at least I thought he did." Buffy looked down at her feet looking guilty.   
  
Giles patted Buffy on the shoulder and then spoke, "We can talk more about this in the morning. It is getting late and we have had a long day, so let's just call it a night and get some sleep."  
  
"Ok, but I don't get dead guy room." Buffy nodded and leaned into Giles for a moment taking some comfort in Giles presence as they walked back into the house.  
  
"Yes, well I was going to sleep in there, and give Willow, Tara, and you the other bedroom, and put Xander and Anya on the couch." Giles started to explain when he was interrupted by Anya.  
  
"But I wanted a bed to play shiver me timbers with Xander." Anya huffed, "and why did you bury that guy anyway?  
  
  
  
Xander awoke to the sounds of Giles and the others fixing breakfast in the next room. Once again, Anya had managed to keep him awake far longer than he had planned. It had certainly been enjoyable.  
  
He yawned and stretched, putting his feet on the cold floor. Speaking to whoever bothered listening, "You know I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that we buried some guy alive in the flowerbed. Sleeping in dead guy's homes certainly does weird things to the head."  
  
Giles, Buffy and the rest fixed Xander with a look that he couldn't quite establish the meaning of.   
  
Willow spoke, "I wasn't going to mention it, but there is this strange hole in the flowerbed… no person though." 


	2. Research

Sorry, but this is a correction, the first version of this chapter was missing vast sections of middle.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
  
"You do know that was the Slayer, don't you?"  
  
The tall man continued walking, oblivious to the question.  
  
"I hear your father had a thing for her a year or so ago... or at least he tried to."  
  
Silence. It was a game of course. Sooner or later he would say something that would annoy the man enough to reply. He hated the silences that the man relished. It was somehow fitting that they continued torture each other in that way.  
  
"I wonder what she's doing here? Last I heard she was in Sunnydale, a Hellmouth like that should be enough to keep her busy, so why is she here? Is she after the same thing that you are? I hope you won't have to kill her!  
  
"Still thoes girls who were with her... they had Power, didn't they? I know you felt it. They could make a good meal for both of us, don't you think? Hahahaha!"  
  
The laugh was cut short as the man's hand closed tightly on the door handle, pulling it open.  
  
The pub was filled with the usual assortment of creatures, and a few humans who were either too stupid, too drunk, or too brave to think better of their choice of bars. Still, the crowd was light, but then this was the daytime crowd, and this type of pub, out of necessity did most of their business at night.  
  
None of the tenants looked up at the man, if anything they took an extra effort to keep their heads down to pretend he didn't exist.  
  
He took a seat at the bar, resting his hat on the stool next to him.  
  
The bartender, a slimy human, readily approached the man with a grin, and the leer of seduction in his eyes. "Ah, D! So glad to see you! What can I get for you? Perhaps this time I can interest you in a pint... either chilled, or strait from the tap."   
  
"The usual."  
  
"Hrm... your no fun today, D... are you sure?"  
  
"The usual."  
  
"All right, all right." His hands disappeared under the counter for a few moments, before bringing out a filled glass for D.  
  
"You have some information for me." D fixed the bartender with a cold stare, which the bartender did not meet. He knew it was there.  
  
The bartenders entire mood seemed to change for the darker. "Your in something deep this time, D. Your daddy's not going to like it."  
  
"Don't be so sure. What do you have for me."  
  
"Huh. You see the news this morning? The Bartell family was killed by a pack of wild dogs when they went for a midnight stroll... at least that's what the official story is. Truth is, they was killed by vamps, but I guess you know that part already. What you don't know is that Mr. Bartell was a government employee, not very high up, you understand, but he was about to push through some forms that would have inconvenced Genom."  
  
"The corporation, or the demon?"  
  
"You normally aren't that dense, D. You know the Slayer is in town? The local Vampire King has placed a fairly large reward for her head. I'm sure they would even give it to you, if you brought it to him. They say she doesn't work alone, that she has a bunch of norms and witches helping her. They say it's a sign of her weakness, but not me, I have other ideas on that."  
  
D had no time to waste on such distractions, the bartender was just trying to distract him now. "Do you have anything else for me?"  
  
"I hear that Barbarois is in town too... on other business. The Vampire King is going to ask him to go after the Slayer. I wonder what your father would do if he knew there was another claiming to be king?"  
  
Putting his hat back on, D stood to leave.  
  
"Did you know that the current situation is very similar to the Ghostwood project in the northern US?"  
  
"All right then, hows about this then. Did you know another vamp is arriving today from the colonies? I hear he specializes in killing Slayers and other freelance work, but how am I suppose to know what would interest you?"  
  
D's eyes narrowed.  
  
The bartender looked up at the ringing of the door's bell. D was gone.  
  
Just as well, the stupid half breed's days were numbered anyway.  
  
The scoobies all looked at each other at Willow's statement. Then looked at each other. It was as if everything was clear up until Buffy had barged in carrying a wounded man, but after that everything took on a dream like quality.  
  
Xander was considering this, something tingling at the back of his mind, "It was like...like..." suddenly it came to him, "Damn, I was a butt monkey! Once again I am the spider eating man bitch, saying yes master how can I serve you master. I am really getting sick of it"! Looking up and seeing looks ranging from amusement to confusion on the faces in front of him he calmed down and said, "Look when was the last time you remember a situation like this"?  
  
Thinking back Buffy softly answered, "Dracula. It was like that when he...well um...came into my bedroom. Like it was a dream, but like it was really happening at the same time. But that wasn't Dracula. This guy looked,"  
  
Buffy was interrupted by Tara saying, "Angelic, soft angular features that are vaguely feminine," then seeing Willow looking at her with a sharp gaze she stammered, "b-but defi-nitely male, and males, w-well I have no interest in." She finished smiling sheepishly at Willow.  
  
Willow smoothed her hand down Tara's arm, "It's ok. I thought Dracula was hot, remember." Willow whispered putting her girlfriend at ease.  
  
"Ok, so what do we do now"? Buffy asked the group.  
  
"Well we have the question of this Barbaroy. Anya said he was a mercenary. Xander can you see if there is some way to trace this mercenary and see if we can find out some information on him. Anya help Xander. Buffy, when you patrol tonight, I want you to be on the lookout for our mysterious guest last night, I shudder to think what he portents, also I have to also agree with Xander, I am loath to be anyone's," Giles paused as if he couldn't believe the next words coming out of his mouth, "butt-monkey".   
  
Buffy looked at her watcher and giggled, "You said butt-monkey."  
  
"Erm, yes, I will call one of my friends in the watchers, and Willow and Tara, see if there is some spell to find out about our late night visitor. But first I think we should all go and get some breakfast." Giles finished giving out the game plan.  
  
Two hours later they found themselves back at the house and going over their respective tasks. Tara and Willow were searching for a spell, while Xander and Anya were looking through various gun and soldier magazines. They were all trying to ignore the madly pacing slayer as she talked on the phone to her mother.  
  
"I know mom, but I am working. Can't you and Dawn just go and have a good time." Sighing Buffy relented. "Alright, I'll be there in a half-hour. See you then." She hung up the phone and looked at the group. "I have to go and see the crown jewels with mom and Dawn, does anyone else want to go"?  
  
"I would love to, but Tara and I are trying to narrow down a spell." Willow answered. "So go on and have a fun time."  
  
"Sorry Buff, getting some head way done over here." Xander said holding up a magazine.  
  
"You know the only crown jewels I would be interested in seeing is Pri... Giles did you find anything"? Buffy finished her statement as she saw her watcher walking in.  
  
"No. I am fixing to call the Counsel and see if they have any information that can be useful." Giles finished. "I will be upstairs if you need me." With that he walked up the steps and went into the bedroom.  
  
"Fine. Well see you guys later." Buffy said as she walked out the door.  
  
Xander looked down as he said good-bye to Buffy, then went back to the magazine he was reading. Searching down the personal messages he came across one that caught is eye.  
  
B.B. Rois-Good to hear from you. Will be at the Brimmley Tavern at 2pm._J  
  
"B.B. Rois. Sound's promising. Hey guys I think I found something here." The others came over and looked at the ad he was pointing at. He reached over and grabbed the phone book and started looking up the address to the Brimmley Tavern. Finding it he wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in his pocket.  
  
"I don't know Xander. This could mean anything." Willow said as she pointed to the name.  
  
"Yeah, maybe, but these are not the kind of guys that give out information. I'm just gonna go over to the tavern and have a look around. Nothing lost even if it turns out to be nothing." He said.  
  
"That's true babe, let me get my coat." Anya said getting up.  
  
"Anya, hun. Would you stay here and help Willow and Tara. I don't know if this is a good place to take you to." Xander said holding on to his girlfriend's shoulders.  
  
"But I would be worried about you." Anya whined.  
  
"I know baby, but I'll be fine. Be back before you know it." Xander promised as he gave Anya a kiss on the forehead. "See you later Willow and Tara. And then I will tell you what I find out." Xander then went to the door and waved as he walked out.  
  
Upstairs Giles was on hold. He tapped his foot while he waited. Then someone spoke.  
  
"Rupert Giles"?  
  
"Speaking." Giles answered into the phone.  
  
"What have you heard about the Ghostwood project"?  
  
"Not much I am afraid." Giles sighed as he answered. It was going to be a long day.  
  
Nightfall. D watched the unloading of the ship. Only one ship was being unloaded a night, and it was a particularly rundown freighter. He would not move against them, but he would remember them. He may need their services himself one day, or he may be able to use them to track some other prey.  
  
"What are we doing here, D?"  
  
D remained silent.  
  
"Do you really think they have hired this vampire? Or are you trying to get on the Slayer's good side?"  
  
They opened a crate, and a drunk man, holding a bottle staggered out. No, not a man; a vampire.  
  
The vampire staggered forward a few steps, looking up at the city before him. "Its nice to be back home." The man was too drunk to notice D's approach, or was too drunk to detect it as a threat.  
  
D's conscience grumbled. He did not like striking a man unawares, but it had to be done. He raised his sword for the kill.  
  
The vampire was not as unaware as he had pretended, blocking D's sword with his bottle. The bottle broke, but not before stopping D's attack. The vampire followed up with a punch to D's face.  
  
D took the hit, and stepped back, ready to attack or parry as needed, depending on what his opponent did next.  
  
His opponent, screamed out in pain, hopping in a circle, his hands holding his head. "Bloody Hell!! Who ever heard of half a headache?!? What are you?"  
  
D leaped forward, and knocked the vampire flat with a blow to the face from the hilt of his sword. D's other hand firmly grabbed the vampire's head. "What do you see?"  
  
"Ha! He has a chip in his head. The poor fool has been neutered! A pretty good job of it, too."  
  
Releasing the vampire, D stood. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I've got as much right to take a stroll as anybody, don't I?"  
  
D drew the man's attention to his sword. "Aren't you the vampire who specializes in killing Slayers?"  
  
"Well, yeah, I use to."  
  
"Then why are you here?"  
  
"Well, I'm here because the Slayer is here, aren't I?"  
  
D's eyes narrowed.  
  
"I'm her close personal friend, you know. Saved her life lots of times."  
  
"Why?"  
  
The vampire, Spike, was growing more and more flustered as the questioning continued, and his sobriety returned. "To keep her from staking me, mainly."  
  
D remained motionless, impassive.  
  
"Yeah, well. Guess Ill see you round," Spike said, as he began staggering towards the town.  
  
The wind whipped through D's hair as he watched the man go.  
  
"You don't actually believe him, do you?"  
  
"Of course not., but I can use him anyway." D replied. 


	3. Respite

Once again, this is a joint writing project from Isoner and MK. We do not own any part of Buffy The Vampire Hunter, Vampire Hunter D. Bubblegum Crisis, or Twin Peaks. This story is of course about Buffy and the Scoobies and D.  
  
Again, a slight reminder to those who have been following this story, please make sure you read the corrected version of chapter 2, and not the one that was originally posted.  
  
And now back to the fanfic as it takes a completely unplanned twist.  
  
  
Chapter 3: Respite  
  
  
Xander walked into the tavern. It was dark and dingy, with the thick smell of cigarette smoke and beer hanging in the air. He walked over to the bar and took a seat on one of the hardwood chairs and pulled himself up close. He subtlety looked around, trying to feel out which one he was looking for, from the varied clientele.   
  
"Can I help you"? The bartender came over to stand in front of Xander.  
  
"Yeah, I'll have a beer." Xander told the man, and soon he had a pint of beer in front of him.   
Taking a sip he checked his watch. Just as he looked back up he saw a man in a nice business suit come in carrying a briefcase. He watched as the man sat down at a table in the corner. He waited a few minutes, and then he got up from the bar and walked over to the pool tables near that were located nearer to the table where the man sat. He leaned up against the wall, seeming to watch the pool game going on in front of him.  
  
Twenty minutes later another gentleman walked in, and slowly made his way over to the corner table. He pulled the seat out and sat across from the man in the suit. "Mr. Towagowa, lovely to see you here."  
  
"Your late, Mr. Rois. My boss doesn't like to have his time wasted in such a manner." Towagowa said in an annoyed tone.  
  
"I am a very busy man, Mr. Towagowa, and in my line of work, things don't always go on schedule. I have taken care of my part of the business arrangement to remove your problem, so if you could just take care of your part, you can be on your way." Mr. Rois spoke in a cheerful tone.  
  
"Taken care of the problem? Right now some old man, and a group of children are going all over the place, snooping where they shouldn't be. I would hardly call that taking care of the problem. Therefore we are only paying half of what we were to pay you" Towagowa whispered angrily.  
  
"I beg to disagree, Mr. Towagowa. We had a contract that specifically said I was to take care of the man that was a threat to your boss. One man, one specific man, Mr. Towagowa. I have taken care of that man. Nowhere in the contract did it say I had to do anything else, after I completed the task." Rois continued, his voice never losing its pleasant, almost laughing tone. "Now Mr. Towagowa, you and your boss will pay me what I am owed, or I will take it off of you in pieces. You must understand, nothing personal, but a deal is a deal."  
  
Unnerved, Towagowa pulled a phone out of his breast pocket and made a phone call. He spoke quickly in Japanese, and then hung up the phone. "Very well, I can have the rest of your money here in two hours. But before I go, I would like to discuss another proposition, about the ones snooping around."  
  
"No." Rois said even before the man was done speaking.   
  
"I can triple the price…"  
  
"No. An old man and a group of children are beneath me." Rois answered. "Now, Mr. Towagowa, bring me the rest of my money." He watched as the man walked away, then turned around and spoke to the man's back, "Oh, by the way. Don't be late." Chuckling he watched the man walk out the door. Rois sat back amused. 'An old man and children indeed, Mr. Towagowa.' He thought to himself. 'You have no idea what you are in for.' Rois knew that the children were of course the slayer, two powerful witches, and Anyanka, who was one time the favorite of D'Hofferin, now nothing more than a mortal. Pity, he had enjoyed seeing her work.   
  
A slight part of him wished he had taken the job, thinking of the challenge that it would be; after all they were truly worthy opponents. Shaking his head he dismissed the idea. This one would be more fun to watch. He knew exactly who Towagowa worked for, because in his world finding everything you could out was the difference between life and death. Watching these two forces combat one another would be a battle of epic proportions. This one was safer watching from the sidelines.   
  
Watching the man in the corner musing to himself, Xander sighed. It was going to be a long wait. With that in mind her went and grabbed another beer.  
  
  
  
Back at the house Giles was sitting, still looking at the phone. He was disturbed by what he had heard. That sort of evil could not be killed. Making a decision he went downstairs to where Willow and Tara were researching, while Anya was pacing a hole in the floor. He looked at the two witches and asked, "Any luck with finding something to help us with our visitor"?  
  
"Sorry we haven't come across anything yet." The blonde witch looked up apologetically.  
  
"Well, I need to pull Willow away for a little while. Willow, can you get on the computer and find out all you can about a secret project the United States Government did called the 'Ghostwood Project?' I believe that it was conducted in Washington State." Giles asked. He was busily wiping his glasses, as he made his request.  
  
The two witches looked at each other, wondering what was wrong. Finally Willow spoke up. "Sure Giles. Is something wrong"?  
  
"I need the information before I can answer that question." Giles began pacing along side Anya. "Where is Xander"?  
  
"That's what I would like to know." The ex-demon spoke in an agitated tone of voice. "He just took off, without telling us where he was going."  
  
"He said that he might have a lead, and that he was going to check it out." Willow answered booting up her computer and beginning the search that Giles had requested of her.  
  
  
  
Xander had been waiting at the bar for two hours, when the Japanese man repapered with another brief case. Once again, he tried to bargain with the man, but once again Rois just waved him away. The man left shortly after. Xander waited another ten minutes, giving the appearance of nonchalance, and was about to leave when the door opened once again, and the man from the night before walked into the bar. Quickly Xander stepped back into the shadows.  
  
  
Once more, D strode through the bar, only this time it was full with a full range of clientele. Everything from succubae to vampires were in full attendance, and making a bizarre use of a Karaoke stage. There were even a few normal humans about.  
  
"The usual, as usual?" The bartender asked as D approached.  
  
"The information you gave me on the visiting vampire was useless. How do I know if the rest of your information is any good?"  
  
The bartender leaned over towards D, and pointed to a Loan Shark who was shifting in his seat near the door. "He likes to sit in the corner across from the Dartboard. It gives him an excellent view of both the door and the stage. Since he is one of the more powerful blokes in town, nothing, no one can deprive him of his favorite seat."  
  
Only the smallest of movements betrayed the extra attention D was giving the corner booth. "Barbarois."  
  
Turning, D walked with slow deliberate steps towards Barbarois, so that there was no mistake in anyone's mind where D was going.  
  
Just as slowly D sat in the vacant seat across from the demon.  
  
"Did you kill the human who was investigating Genom?"  
  
"Child's play, taking out a human," the human looking demon said in a pleasant voice, "Did it impress you?"  
  
D remained impassive. "Have you already been hired for another job?"  
  
"Nah. Waiting for another contract related to that other matter. Just turned down one to kill a Slayer."  
  
"Why is that? Killing a slayer would improve your reputation."  
  
"No point. Kill one Slayer, and another one pops up somewhere else, so why bother? I have of course heard of you, why don't you take out the slayer?"  
  
"I already have a job to do."  
  
"Oh, really? Did you know that you are one of the three most wanted beings on this planet? You are almost tied with Angelous. If I hunted vampires, I could take out the both of you and retire, and finally buy that town I've always wanted."  
  
"So you can train an army of mercenaries?"  
  
Barbarois gave an evil smile, but seemed to get impatient, "Look, what do you want from me?"  
  
"I don't want you to take any more jobs related to that 'other issue.'"  
  
"That could cost me a lot of money."  
  
D took out an envelope and slid it across the table.  
  
Without picking it up, "What is that for?"  
  
"I need you to get something for me from Brazil. The Jewel of Sigillat. The details are in the envelope."  
  
The demon's smile returned. "A lot of effort to keep us from working at cross purposes."  
  
"I would hate to have to kill you."  
  
Finally taking the envelope, Barbarois stood and started for the door. "I would hate to have to kill one such as you, also."  
  
  
  
As soon as Xander walked back into the house, Anya grabbed him in a hug, and began berating him.  
  
"Where have you been"?  
  
"I went to a bar, and found out some information. I am 99% sure that Rois is the one that killed Giles' friend. But I also found out that if was him, that he was hired to do it. He was also hired by our visitor from last night to go somewhere in South America to find something called…"  
  
Xander was cut off by Willows frantic shout of "Guys, you better see this."  
  
Looking over they saw that Tara had put her arms around Willow's neck and they both looked scared. When they had all rushed over they could see a series of 0's and 1's flying across the screen.  
  
"What is it doing"? Giles asked in a worried tone.  
  
"I don't know. I hacked into the military's mainframe and opened up the information they had on Ghostwood when all of a sudden the computer went all wacky." As Willow finished her statement there was suddenly sound coming from the speakers on the computer. The voice on the speakers had an unearthly quality to it. It sounded like E.T. on Quaaludes.  
  
"Lllllllleeeeeeaaaaattttsssssssssss rrrrrrrrroooooocccccccckkk!!"   
  
Giles looked over at Willow, at last ready to answer her question. "Yes, something is definitely wrong."  
  
  
  
D stood facing the water, the wind blowing the hair that hung far below his hat. Barbarois was now out of the picture, but he still needed to find out who was behind it all, and put a stop to it. He could have asked Barbarois, but he knew full well the Demon would not have given him an answer. It was against the Demon's sense of honor and loyalty. He would have to find the answers to his questions the hard way.  
  
Tomorrow, the hunt would begin… 


	4. Hunting Dreams

Chapter 4: The Hunt  
  
Buffy walked into the house to see the Scoobs huddled around the computer. She noticed that they all had worried expressions on their faces. "Hey guys. What's going on"?  
  
Giles started to push his glasses up higher on his nose, but then changed his mind and pulled them off to wipe them with a soft cloth. When the familiar motions soothed him he spoke. "Why don't we all sit down and talk about what we have found out, while Willow continues to search." He looked up at Willow, who gave him a nervous smile. Giles could tell that she was still unnerved by what she had pulled up on the Ghostwood project. Then he smiled to himself as he watched the gentle blonde witch pull her chair up behind her lover and began to softly massage her shoulders.  
  
Willow smiled gratefully at her lover. She had always felt stronger whenever she could feel Tara's quiet strength behind her. She tuned back towards the computer screen with a determined look, keeping half an ear to the conversation going on around her. Then she began typing once again.  
  
"So Xander, did you find out any information?" Giles asked taking a seat on the large overstuffed chair across from the couch where Xander and Anya were cuddled in.  
  
"Yeah. An Asian guy named Towagowa hired some one he called Rois to kill Giles' friend. Towagowa was upset because Rois hasn't taken care of the problem, because an old man and a group of meddling kids snooping around. Rois said that the contract was to take care of one man, and that he fulfilled his part of the bargain and that Towagowa's employer was going to pay what they owed him or that he was going to cut his employee's into little pieces." Xander paused to take a sip of his coke.  
  
"Ok so just who is this Rois character"? Buffy asked.  
  
Xander held up a finger in a 'wait a minute' motion and took another sip of his drink. When he was done he said, "It gets worse."   
  
"Of course it does. I am the slayer." Buffy sighed dramatically.  
  
From where Willow was sitting in front of the computer she said over her shoulder she said, "To overdramatic. I told you not to give up drama." Willow teased her friend, trying to lighten the mood.  
  
"Go on Xander." Buffy said shaking her head at Willow.  
  
"Well Towagowa agreed to pay the money, and then promised to triple it if Rois would take a contract out on us." Xander paused as he heard Anya gasp.  
  
"Well we have to get out of here. I don't know that much about Barbarois, but I do know enough to know that he is the best at what he does." Anya spoke up.  
  
"Calm down, hun. He refused to take the contract." Xander tried to soothe his distraught lover. "I think that his exact words were that 'an old man and bunch of kids are beneath me." Xander scowled at the statement.  
  
"Oh, Good." Anya calmed down.  
  
"Well, after Towagowa left, it got even stranger. The guy that Buffy brought in last night showed up. Rois told him that he had turned down a lot of money not to kill a slayer. Then strange guy said that Giles friend was researching someone named Genrum or something like that. After that he then told Rois to not take contracts dealing with the 'other matter' and paid Rois a lot of money to go and get an Amulet of Sigilla. The bar was kinda noisy, so I might not have the name quite right, but that is close." Xander finished with a shrug.  
  
"So the man paid Rois a lot of money to leave town"? Buffy asked. She was getting more and more confused about what was going on. She wondered which side the strange man was on. He could have woke up this morning and killed them all in there sleep, of that she had no doubt, but he had just left. But now he had made an arrangement with the man who had probably murdered Giles old friend, who in turn had refused a lot of money to kill them. She was getting a headache from thinking about it. She looked up a Xander and said, "Ok, I'm game, why"?  
  
"Um…Why what"? Xander asked obviously confused.  
  
"Why pay him a lot of money to get him out of here"? Buffy reiterated.  
  
"They did mention not wanting to have to kill each other. So if Rois had stayed around it would more than likely put them at cross-purposes." Xander answered shrugging. "I guess they have some sort of respect for the other."  
  
"Well at least we need to find out what we can about this amulet" Giles then looked over at the two witches. "Tara, did you and Willow come up with anything"?  
  
Everyone turned to look at the blonde as she began speaking, "W-well I think that with some of the dirt from the garden, Willow and I can cast a spell that cam let Buffy track him. She would be able to see a faint trail that led to him. The closer that she gets, the more vivid the trail would look. The down side is that, once we cast the spell it will last until it runs its course. Tara explained, then crooked her mouth into a apologetic half smile, "and it could also be very disconcerting at first. It would be like two images coming in at once. The trail overlaying what she was actually seeing."  
  
"Willow do you have anything else"? Giles asked.  
  
"Sorry. I'm having to crack an encryption, but I think I am getting close." Willow answered then quickly muttering to herself, "Oops, damn government codes."  
  
Giles then picked up the narrative. "The council didn't tell me much, other than to look into Ghostwood. What information they did have on the project seems to point to the fact that it was a former hell mouth." Seeing everyone stop what they were doing and look up at him with shocked expressions. Nodding he continued, "Something; however, sealed it, making a barrier between this realm, and whatever horrors lie beneath it."  
  
  
  
Mr. Towagowa was bowed low before the darkness that surrounded him. "I have hired some demons to take care of the group. They should not be problem any longer, my master. All will go according to your grand plan." His tones were quiet and respectful.   
  
From the darkness a deep, resonant voice spoke out. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. "Do not underestimate them, my loyal servant. I can feel a great power, you must strike hard and fast, where they are at that weakest."  
  
"Already taken care of my lord. I have summoned the demons and told them to bring the old mans children to me. If I take away his family then it will draw him out." After tonight the man will no longer be a threat."  
  
"Good. Nothing must stop my plans. I will return to the place that has been sealed off from me. I will return home."  
  
"Yes, my master. We have already acquired the land on the Glassbury plains. The seal will be opened my lord." Towagowa pledged.  
  
"Then go. Do not fail me."  
  
Towagowa lifted himself up from his knees and walked across his room, back into his office. Ten large demons stood around inside the summoning circle, awaiting orders. Looking over them Towagowa went from respectful to commanding in seconds. "You know who you are searching for. Go and bring them to me."  
  
The demons left the room and headed out into the night.   
  
  
  
"This is a waste of time, D. He is never going to lead us anywhere. Spike will never be anything more than a bit player."  
  
D did not answer, he remained crouched in the shadows of the night watching the vampire in the distance.  
  
"I mean, all we have seen him do is gamble and pay back some kittens he owed. If he was really going to do something don't you think he would have done it already?"  
  
"He did." D spoke softly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"At the poker game. He was advertising that he had information. All we have to do is wait."  
  
"Wait for what, D? And what information could that looser possibly have?"  
  
"Our prey doesn't want the Slayer snooping around. He will be looking for information, and will hit one of Spikes poker buddies up for information. That will lead them to Spike. And to me."  
  
"I get it, then we will follow them back to our prey."  
  
D nodded.  
  
"Once we do, will you kill Spike? He may be a small fry, but I know you want to snack on those kittens he has. Cant you just—"  
  
"Quiet, someone is coming." D silenced his hand, and made ready to move in closer to hear what ever would be said.  
  
  
A small group of demons moved through the alley, and pushed in the door of the apartment Spike was renting.  
  
Spike looked from the battered remains of his door to the demons who were standing in his living room. His face held an expression that was a cross between amusement and annoyance. "Well, I suppose I was expecting you," he said.  
  
The lead demon snorted. "I hear you have important information for us."  
  
Spike nodded. "Yeah. I know who your target is, and where they are staying."  
  
"We already know where they are."  
  
"Oh, yeah… but I bet you don't really know who."  
  
Spike was trying to appear cleaver, but it only served to make the demon more annoyed. "Some old man, 4 girls, and a boy. What else is there to know?"  
  
"Well, information costs, doesn't it?"  
  
Suddenly a hand the size of his head, gripped Spike around the throat and held him up into the rafters.  
  
"Wait, wait.. Ok, I can see where this is going, the information is free this time. No harm in that, is there?"  
  
With a thud he fell to the ground. "Well?"  
  
"Ok, the old man is nothing, two of the girls are witches, also easy kills, and a third girl is an ex-demon, nothing to worry about. And the boy, well, is just that. The fourth girl, well, she wont be that easy. You see, she is the slayer, and slayers don't die that easily."  
  
The demon seemed to laugh once, then turned to leave.  
  
"I have more information, if you want it…"  
  
The demon didn't speak, he simply fixed Spike with another deadly stare.  
  
"There are more meddling kids in the picture than you know about. Another woman and a girl." Spike held out a card with an address written on it. "You can find them here. They are the slayers mother and sister. Two more easy kills for you."  
  
Snarling, the demon took the card. "And what do you want for this… information?" he spit out the last word like it was a curse.  
  
"I want you to kill them all, but leave the Slayer alone. She is mine."  
  
"Yours? Yours to kill?"  
  
"Well, something like that. With all her friends dead, she will need some consoling, and I want to be there for her."  
  
"HA. You want to woo her."  
  
"HEY," Spike shouted angrily, "I never said that!"  
  
"I think I will kill them all. Ill take them all one by one, starting with her mother. Ill kill them all and make the slayer watch."  
  
"Yeah, that will be good." Spike agreed.  
  
"And then I will kill her too."  
  
"Now wait a minit, what about me?"  
  
The demon smiled, "Ill come back here and kill you after I kill the slayer. How does that sound?"  
  
The demon turned and left without saying another word. Alone, Spike kicked a box across the room, and sat in a huff. His mind desperately trying to figure out a way to get on Buffy's good side if she found out he had betrayed her.  
  
Buffy looked around the room after they had all given what information they could. She decided it was time for them to make the game plan for the next day. "Ok guys. Tomorrow I am supposed to meet Mom and Dawn for lunch, and they both mentioned something about actually seeing all of you. So I thought that maybe we could all get together for dinner tomorrow night."  
  
"That sounds splendid." Giles agreed, then added, "Willow, Tara and I can use the time in the morning to get the ingredients for the spell they have planned."  
  
"Well Xander and I are going to the Tower of London. I haven't been there in over 500 years. It was once a great place to visit, what with all the pain, torture and death going on." Anya blurted out.  
  
"Oh yeah, they just can't torture like they used to." Xander sarcastically quipped.  
  
"Well it really all depends where you go now a days." Anya informed matter of factly.  
  
"Dammit! I should have thought of this hours ago." Willow swore, slamming her hand down on the desk, causing everyone else in the room to jump.  
  
"Calm down honey. What did you find out"? Tara said turning around in the swivel chair to face Willow.  
  
"It is a randomly generated sequence." Willow explained as she began typing furiously again, missing the looks from her friends.   
  
Everyone looked at Tara with 'do you know what she is talking about' expressions on their faces. Tara shrugged that she had no idea what her lover was talking about. She turned back to face her lover. "Um, sweetie, could you put that into something that resembles English."  
  
"Ok, it is set up where the password is a random series of characters. I am writing up a program where it will input random words into the system, and when it comes across the correct sequence of words, it will unlock the information." Willow said as she continued to make changes to the computer.  
  
Everyone else nodded, still not sure what their friend was babbling about, but knowing that what ever it was, that the hacker would get the job done. Five minutes later Willow turned around and stated that, "Well that should do it. Now I'm kinda tired and my neck is all achy. So what do you say we all go to sleepy." Then she leaned over and whispered into Tara's ear. "I could use a Tara back rub."  
  
"Um, ok, but remember that is as far as it goes. I don't want to break Buffy." Tara grinned as she whispered back.  
  
"Slayer hearing girls. There will be no breaking of the Buffy." Buffy shouted as she started up the stairs towards their room.  
  
Xander laughed as Willow, Tara and Giles all blushed, and then made their goodnights.   
  
  
  
Willow sat in her chair, admiring the red curtains that defined the room.  Only they weren't there anymore, the walls had been replaced with stone.  She could hear a scratching sound like something was trying to claw its way through the zigzagged hardwood floor... only the floor was grass and dirt.  How strange that there would be a lamp, a sofa and two chairs sitting out on the grass in a stone room.  
   
She was not alone, there was a man standing next to her wearing a black suit with his hair slicked back.  He wasn't entirely unattractive, for a guy.  He leaned down to her and asked with a genuine curiosity, "is this your first prophetic dream?"  
   
"Yes" she said, "Buffy normally handles the freaky dream stuff."  
   
"Its not that bad," he said, "But you must pay the strictest attention."  
   
She slowly turned her head looking from the man in the suit to a small man in a red suit, and back again.  "Where is this place?"  
   
"This Is the Door.  To. The Seal."  the short man replied.  
   
The scratching noise under the "floor" became louder.  
   
"It Wants.  To go Home."  
   
"Is that a bad thing?  Frequently I find that I want to go home."  She answered.  
   
The small man seemed to smile with just a touch of scary and maybe evil reaching his eyes.  "If He breakes the Seal.    BOOm.  No Thing.  Will ever Be.  The same."  
   
"You should be careful, Willow."  The man in the black suit said, with a great amount of concern in his voice. "If you go too far... if you care too much, you could loose your soul, and then nothing you care about will matter."  
   
Willow didn't understand, but it was obvious that the two men were talking about completely different things. It made her head swim.  At least it was just a dream.  This would drive her mad if it was actually supposed to make sense.  
   
"Listen to this very carefully, Willow,"  the man in the suit said, "It only has this one--"  
   
The small man seemed to get enraged.  "You. Are. Not. Allowed. to Tell.  The Future.  Depends."  
   
The other man seemed lost in thought for a few moments.  "One chance out between two worlds, Fire Walk With Me."  
   
All the rage had already left the small man.  "The fourth letter.  Has not. Been Here.  He Does not.  Know.  All he should.  But he Does more Than he thinks."  
  


	5. What was intended to come

Usual disclaimers, Don't own any part of the Buffyverse, D, or any of the other series implicated in this fanfic.

I do regret to say that this fanfic will never be completed, however I did want to post what has been written along with what was planned. There is nothing I like less than not knowing the end of a story. So please forgive the incompleteness of this chapter. The main reason this story will never be completed is that I have lost all contact with my Co-author... I can write a good D (I think) but I need help when it comes to Buffy and company. (The buffy characters are much better portrayed in this fic than in the others I have posted, and that is because most of those parts were done by molly. Fact is some parts I have totally for gotten which of us wrote.)

Pt 5

"I'm not sure I like this new plan, D."

"Same plan as before, only we follow the girl."

"You are starting to get mushy, D. You should have followed the demon last night, instead of coming here to lust after some girl."

"You are out of line."

D had checked the registry for the last name Summers. Joyce and Dawn Summers were sharing a room, which D watched the entire night, waiting for the Demons to come for them. Surely they would not take them in the daylight, but they did not come during the night.

Willow awoke the next morning shaking her head at the strange dream she had just had. The man... He said it was a prophetic dream. This wasn't her area of expertise, as it was usually Buffy that had such dreams. 

She smiled as she felt her girlfriend snuggle against her, and then frowned as she heard Tara mumble in her sleep.

"It's the red room. The dwarf is the voice. Listen to the owls, Willow." Tara muttered then turned around in her sleep to hug Willow.

Willow looked down at the blonde hair that was partially covered with the light blue sheet and reached out her hand to stroke the girls head, as she thought of the dream that she had just had, and the fact that it seemed that Tara had had the same dream. She felt Tara snuggle against her again, then open up her blue eyes.

"Morning baby. Are you ok"? Tara asked seeing the worry in Willow's green eyes.

"I just had a weird dream. What did you dream, Tara"? Willow asked.

"I...um..." Tara's eyes took a far away look, then sheepishly looked at Willow, "...don't really remember. I think there might have been a munchkin in it." She giggled a little at the thought.

Willow smiled, "well I think that I would say more of a dwarf, and a red room, but I guess he was kinda, munchkiny now that I think about it. But on a more pleasant note," Willow leaned over and gave her lover a good morning kiss. When they parted they both got out of bed and began to get dressed.

When they made it downstairs they saw Xander and Anya were still asleep on the fold out couch and Buffy and Giles were drinking their morning cups of coffee and tea respectively. Tara went and poured her and Willow some coffee, then they all sat around the table and tried to wake up.

Tara looked like she was about to say something, when Willows laptop beeped.

Willow went over to the laptop, and saw that the computer had found the password. She paled when she saw the words, FIRE WALK WITH ME, appeared on the screen. She felt the world around her go unstable as she reached out for the desk to steady herself.

Tara and Buffy jumped up to grab Willow before she could fall. "Willow what's wrong." Tara as she and Buffy helped to steady the hacker.

Willow pointed at the screen and said, "From my dream, the one that had the munchkin in it. Don't like all prophetic-y dreams"  
"Prophetic dream? What was it about"? Giles asked looking up from the morning newspaper.

"Well I was in this red room, with a man in a suit and a dwarf. It was weird, they were talking in slow motion. They said something about the fourth letter not being there, and that I needed to remember that it was a door, to somewhere. Oh and there was scratching underneath the floor. And that something wanted to go home, past the seal. And that he said something about fire walk with me." Willow got a look of concentration on her face, trying to remember exactly what the man said. "One chance out, between two worlds, fire walk with me. Does mean anything"?

Seeing Buffy and Tara shake their heads, she looked over to Giles.

"I think that we should look into any books dealing with any of that stuff and see if there is a prophesy that would translate to that phrase. In the mean time see if you can remember more about the dream, and see what the infernal device has come up with."

Willow nodded and input the code into the program. When it was done, map schematics came up on screen, as well as another name, Project Bluebook. She looked over the material when she felt Tara's hands tighten almost painfully on her shoulders. "Tara"? She asked looking up.

"That's G-ghostw-w-ood National P-park." Tara stuttered looking at the screen.

Willow frowned at hearing the stutter from her girlfriend. Tara looked scared. She looked at Giles and Buffy also seeing that they heard it too. When she saw Tara starting to lean over and point to the screen she moved slightly out of the way to give her more room.

"That's the grove of trees, and over here is where they put on the summer plays. And..." Tara faltered out, and looked at Willow, "And...there is Twin Peaks."

Xander and Anya had moved over to the table to get coffee, and at Tara's statement Xander looked up and asked, "Isn't that where you grew up, Tara?"

"Yes, at least until I was about ten or eleven." Tara said softly, and then continued, "I remember mom and me going to Ghostwood and sitting at the grove. That is where she taught me a lot of the craft. We had some fun times there." She gave a crooked smile at Xander.

MORE STUFF TO ADD WHEN I SEE FRED

With that Buffy looked at the group and said, "Well I've got to book. Remember everybody, dinner with mom and Dawn tonight." Saying bye Buffy headed out the door.

"Come on, Xander we have to leave too. I want to have plenty of time to reminisce about the good old days at the Tower of London. All of the torture, and death. They just can't do it the same anymore." Anya said pulling Xander to his feet.

"Bye guys." Xander called back as Anya pulled him out the door.

"Well I suppose that leaves us to go and get the spell components, and do some research into Willow's dream." Giles said looking at Willow and Tara.

"Ok, Mr. Giles." Tara said while she and Willow grabbed their coats, and they too exited the house.

Morning came. He watched unseen as they went down and grabbed a breakfast. If he was hungry, D gave no indication. Soon, the women finished their meal, grabbed their pocket books and a city map, and then headed out into the street.

The girls seemed to stop to take pictures of every traffic cop and phone booth they passed. While Joyce was taking a picture of a building, the younger girl stopped, her attention grabbed by something in the shop window.

D used the opportunity to approach the women. He needed to get a better look at them, and give his parasite a chance to get their "scents."

Dawn's attention was fixed on a television in the store window that was running a BBC news report. 

"...and now that the last permit has been granted, in a few weeks the Genom Corperation will begin tearing down Stonehenge in favor of the proposed 'Stonehenge Country Club and Estates.' All that remains to find a construction company to do the job. Residents have expressed a great amount of excitement for the project, saying the jobs the country club will bring in will lead to a boom for the local economy."

"They cant do that, can they?" the girl asked.

D had assumed she was asking a rhetorical question, but he found her eyes fixed on him. He certainly couldn't see any reason why not. If anything, D thought, he would be glad to see the stones go.

"I mean, it's a national monument or something like that, isn't it?"

D remained silent, but inwardly he was pondering it over. It was a national monument, and an archeological link to forgotten civilization. Some project to bulldoze it should certainly have raised some level of protest.

"How can you be out in the daylight?" the girl asked.

It took D a moment to realize her question had completely shifted topics. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you ARE a vampire, aren't you? You kinda have a reflection in the window, but not a full one, and my sister always says you can tell a vampire by their tacky dress sense." She added with a smile, "No offence."

"None taken." He said softly. "Your mother is calling you."

Dawn turned, and sure enough, her mother was waving her over to look at some street or other. When she looked back at the man, though, he was gone. With nothing else to do, she trotted to catch up to her mother.

"Well, she seems to have a Slayer's instincts as well, doesn't she?"

"Yes." D replied.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she wound up being the next Slayer. Wouldn't that be something? Just think, you could take her now, huh? Take her and tempt her, bring her over to the Night. A pre-slayer turned Vampire, that would even top that Slayer turned Vampire!"

"Quiet," D commanded, "they are getting away." D picked up his pace, making extra sure that he stayed out of sight.

"Hurry up, Dawn. We are supposed to meet Buffy in ten minutes." Joyce tried to hurry her youngest daughter along.

"I don't see why we have to plan our vacation around Buffy." Dawn gripped. She wanted to go into the store they were in front of to try on the pair of shoes that was in the window.

"Dawn, the shoes will still be there in an hour. Besides you know that this isn't a vacation for your sister and her friends." Joyce said.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is always about her. The chosen one." Dawn moved away from the window of the store and headed down the sidewalk with her mother. "Just once I would like...AAAHHH!" Dawn finished with a shriek as from out of an alley way two hands grabbed her and pulled her into the alley. Out of the corner of her eye she saw another robed figure grab her mother. Just as she was about to scream again, she felt a sharp blow to her head, and then everything went black.

"And right here is where Anne Bolyn head was chopped." Anya told her boyfriend. They were standing in front of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, and Anya was doing her best to try and relate the tale of Anne Bolyn. "Just like a stupid man to execute his wife for having a girl. He killed her before she had a chance to make a wish even."

"Aw, hun. Henry the VIII got his in the end." Xander tried to placate the ex-demon. Then Xander shivered, his senses that he had gotten through the years of being a scoobie flaring. Looking around he figured out what it was. Nobody was around the site. There should have been a lot of tourists milling about, but there was no one. He was about to mention this to Anya, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadowy figure moving out from one of the buildings. Looking over towards the area he saw a large red demon, with a ridge of spikes coming out of its forearms rushing towards the pair.

"Xander, are you paying attention to me!" Anya huffed, then when Xander grabbed her arm and jerked her towards the Chapel she yelled, "What are you doing!"

"Demon!" Xander said, running them into the chapel.

Giles, Willow, and Tara were walking back from the magic store, with the ingredients needed to cast the spell on Buffy. They had, had a pleasant morning, first stopping to have a nice brunch, then moving on to do their shopping. They were talking over Willow's dream, trying to help the hacker remember it all, and figuring out what it meant.

They got back to the house and were sitting around the table, looking over spell books.

"Giles, I think that we need to find out where this seal is. I mean if Ghostwood and this are related, then we are a long way from where we need to be." Willow looked up at the watcher with a frown on her face.

"With what Tara told us, it would seem that the grove is a place of power; however, there are many such places in the world. While I am still considering the fact that it could be Ghostwood, I am..."

Giles was cut off by the crash of glass, as the back door burst open to reveal four demons. Grabbing an axe Giles readied himself for the attack. 

The one in the lead ran in and backhanded Tara across the table. Then went for Willow who was the closest to him. He raised his fist, to hit the young woman when Giles brought the axe down over his arm, severing it at the elbow. He howled in rage as he turned on the watcher. He shot out his undamaged arm and backhanded Giles across the face.

Giles fell on the floor beside Tara, and taking quick aim, he threw the axe hitting the Demon in the back as he grabbed Willow around the throat. Seeing him go down he turned towards the blonde witch, to see her pulling herself up.

Tara grabbed some of the herbs on the table and looking at the group of demons moving in she threw the herbs at them and in a clear voice yelled "Strigo are laqueus!"

Two of the three other demons froze in place as Willow quickly raised a hand and quickly spoke "Incendo cendri" and the two demons burst into flames.

Giles ran and grabbed the axe out of the fallen demons back, as Tara threw a mug of tea at the last demon. He yelled as the hot liquid splashed on him, and the mug shattered against his flesh. At the same moment a knife embedded in his shoulder from Willow levitating the knife. Giles brought the axe down over his neck and was knocked back from a blow at the same time. As the demon sank to the ground in a pool of its own blood, Giles came to a rest up against the fallen table.

Xander ran into the chapel with the demon closing in. In desperation he plunged his hand into the holy water and slung it out to hit the demon. Seeing the demon grab his face he pulled Anya farther into the chapel.

The demon recovered from the holy water in his eyes, and with a growl followed the young man inside the building. Pushing a marble statue over in frustration. Barreling forward pursuing the young couple into the inner sanctum of the church, swinging his massive hands and shattering pews as he went.

"An, run behind the podium and see if you can find something I can fight this thing with." Xander told his girlfriend as he grabbed a candelabrum, holding it in front of him like a staff. Waiting for the demon to get close, he swung the metal shaft and hit the demon in its stomach. Pulling it back for another swing, the creature threw out its hand and using the shaft as a shield, Xander blocked the blow. Unfortunately, the metal gave way, and he was left holding two broke pieces of the candelabra. 

The demon kicked Xander in the chest and sent him tumbling backwards.

"Don't touch him, he's mine." Anya yelled as she saw Xander staggering back. She grabbed an incense holder and ran towards the demon swinging the large head of the holder at the demon. The demon grabbed it, and pulled it out of her hands throwing it to the side, then grabbing Anya he threw her against a pew.

While the demon was busy with Anya, Xander grabbed the discarded holder, and swung the makeshift club against the back of the demons head. Seeing the creature grab its head, he turned the holder in his hands, and plunged the end into the demon's heart.

Then he ran over to Anya and pulled her to her feet. "Anya, baby, are you ok?" He searched over her for any wounds, as she staggered against him.

"I think so. Are you ok?" She asked pulling his shirt up, and noticing the purpling flesh.

"I'll live. This is so not of the good, we have to get back." He spoke as the shaken couple made their way out of the chapel.

D drew his sword and disappeared into the shadows at the first hint of danger. He wasn't sure where they would be coming from, but he knew they were there. His suspicions were confirmed as the two women he had been following screamed.

One of the demons grabbed Joyce from behind, while Dawn tried hitting them with her shopping bags. It was not long before she too was grabbed. A man standing nearby took a step towards them to help, but he was backhanded by one of the demons without a second thought. And then, carrying their prey, the demons fled.

With a flutter of cape and hat, D leaped into the air. He chose his landing points carefully, to stay out of the view of the fleeing demons, as much as the unsuspecting humans. He would not allow himself to make any mistakes.

Chapter...

D stopped instantly in his tracks, then abruptly turned to the south. The daylight was suddenly gone, obscured by dark storm clouds. He did not need this. They had an understanding, so why was he here? What did he have planned this time?

Buffy Summers was up early... bad dreams again. They had started shortly after arriving in England and were only getting worse. They had started with the thing under the zigzag floor that was trying to claw through the floor to get out, but they had been getting worse. Last night's dream had started with an atomic blast, complete with mushroom cloud, that expanded burning Dawn, Willow and the rest to cinders. Even Riley and Oz were there burning in her dream. Then her dream zoomed to the center of the mushroom cloud where a stone tower was crumbling away. And that strange voice was crying. She didn't know why, but she knew the zigzag floor and what was under it figured into this dream too... somehow.

That was odd, it was dark outside. She hoped she wasn't just dreaming she was awake, that would bee too much.

Outside the sky had suddenly gotten really cloudy. It almost looked like nighttime.

Why was she reminded of that day at the beach when Willow started a fire, and it suddenly started to rain?

The moving van was there in front of the castle, just as D knew it would be. He didn't need or want this distraction. D wanted to confront him now, but he needed to be elsewhere. He just hoped that nothing drastic would happen before he could have the confrontation he should have known would take place.

Willow was grateful to have been able to escape the rigors of research long enough to go shopping. She had actually managed to find one of the bookstores Giles had told her about, and had picked up a few of the kinds of Magic books one only heard about in stories. She couldn't wait to get back and try some of the spells out. They had cost her quite a few pretty pennies... or whatever the coins were called here. Actually she was grateful for the problem of currency conversion; she knew that Tara would be cross with her if she knew exactly how much she had spent.

When the rain had hit, she had taken refuge in a café to wait for it to stop. Not that she minded getting too wet, but she was worried about the books. You don't spend that many pounds at once and let your new old books get ruined with wetness. She figured she would eat a little snack, and maybe a few pages.

The food at the little café she had run into had surprisingly good food, she thought even Xander would find some of the sandwiches good. Maybe.

Finally the rain ended and she went back into the street. Was she really in there that long? The sun had already gone down. She held her books tightly to her breasts, and hurried into the night.

Streetlights. There were definitely not enough streetlights in the world, she decided. Not enough streetlight, and too many cars, a very bad combination for the wandering Americans who unwisely spent all their money on books, and didn't save enough to take a taxi, she thought as she rested against a streetlight while waiting for the traffic light to change. Too many cars.

At least she wasn't the only one stuck walking, a man was standing next to her. Apparently he, too, was waiting to cross the street. Alone with a man at night on a strange street corner... that had a very bad sound to it once she thought about it. Maybe if she talked to him and he was friendly it wouldn't be that bad... may he would know where one of the other bookstores Giles had mentioned was.

Then she realized she knew the man.

She looked up at him and smiled. Dracula. No, wait. Not good. She forced her smile to go away, even though it really didn't want to.

"Um... If I run, you wont chase me, or anything, will you?" she asked, her smile half returning to her face to betray her hope. Hope that she would get away or hope that she wouldn't, she wasn't quite sure.

Slowly he gazed into her eyes... or rather through her. Just then she realized that he hadn't recognized her until she said something, but now he did.

Tilting his head, Dracula didn't quite smile. "The off-putting female, what could you be doing here, in this country at this time?" He stared deep into her soul, "Your friends are here as well." It was not a question, but a confirmation.

Nodding, she asked, "Am I going to die now?" She did not want to run. Where was Buffy when she needed her?

"No. I am not here for you now. Leave me. Do not interfere."

Nodding Willow backed up, and noticing that the traffic was now clear, ran across the street. She suddenly had the strongest urge to get back to Tara and reaffirm her gayness.

It took longer than D had expected, but the Carion Demon finally left Mr. Towagowa's apartment. Another hired gun to go after himself and the Slayer.

Leaping from the shadows, D's sword flashed downwards.

The demon didn't even have time to cry out before he died.

Proping the demon up against the wall, D pulled out a cross shaped dagger, and used it to fix the demon's body on the wall. It was a message to Mr. Towagowa, and just in case the message wasn't clear enough, he went ahead and wrote it out on paper.

Later, Mr. Towagowa opened the door, carrying his ice tray, which immediately fell to the floor. With uncertain hands, he reached out and took the paper on the end of the dagger. It had a simple message written on it. "No More Freelancers."

Taking out his cell phone, Towagowa disappeared back into his hotel room.

"Mr. Lee?"

The man sitting at the counter looked up from his soup at the stranger who seemed to know his name.

"Mr. Magnus Lee?" A tall, pale man with long hair asked.

"That's right, how can I help you?"

"You own and run 'Nobility Construction,' do you not?"

Magnus nodded. His graying hair only enhanced his proud face, he was obviously pleased with the apparent fame of his company. His clothing and callused fingers revealed how hard he had worked to achieve whatever reputation his business had earned. "Right again, Mr...?"

"Call me Dracula."

Magnus choked back a laugh at that, and wondered why no one else in the diner did the same. Looking around, he realized that everyone seemed to be quite unnaturally still, staring into space with blank looks on their faces. He suddenly felt quite threatened. "All right, Dracula."

"You will cancel your construction contracts with the Genom Corperation."

"Do you know how much they are paying me? Why would I want to throw away a fortune like that? What can you possibly offer me?"

Dracula gave a sad, bemused smile, and then leaned in close...

"BUFFY!" Willow shouted as soon as she opened the door. "Is Buffy here? She hasn't gone patrolling yet has she?"

Tara jumped up and rushed over, not use to seeing Willow so excited. "She just got back, she's upstairs."

Willow turned to the stairs, and instead of rushing up them, shouted at the top of her lungs, "BUFFY!"

Buffy rushed down the stairs at top speed, actually she figured that was the fastest she had ever gotten down stairs without falling down them. "Will, what is it?"

"Dracula is here."

With wide eyes, Buffy scanned the room.

"No, not here here, out there somewhere here. I saw him at a corner a few blocks away."

"Did he bite you?"

"What?"

"Willow! I need to know. Did he bite you?"

"No. No biting. We talked... well, mostly I talked, and he looked at me with those eyes of his."

Tara gave her a dirty look.

"But it was bad, scary bad."

Buffy, gave Willow's neck a quick check anyway. "Hm. Thrall, been there, done that."

Reaching over to grab her leather jacket and crossbow, Buffy turned to the group, "I'm going out, lock the doors, and stay here!"

She didn't go to the grave yard, instead she headed the other direction, to the good side of town. Dracula preferred the company of the living to the company of the dead. That or he just didn't like his extravagant lifestyle to clash with his neighbors if he were to live in the slums with the rest of the vampires. Maybe Towagowa was working for Dracula, and Dracula was behind everything? Buffy doubted that theory.

She really didn't know where she was going to look for him. Somehow she just knew that she would either find him, or he would find her.

Something was in the shadows. Before she had time to think, she had already fired the cross bow at it.

A dog yelped in pain. Or was it a wolf?

Walking over, she found her bolt laying on the ground, and reloaded the crossbow. It must have been the fog.

Wait a minute.

It WAS him. He was still there, somewhere, hiding in the fog. She wasn't sure she knew how to kill him, or if she could kill him. She really wasn't sure why he hadn't come back after her in Sunnydale, for that matter.

Her crossbow was knocked across the street by a kick that came out of nowhere.

With an animalistic growl Dracula lunged at the slayer, knocking her to the ground.

She kicked him off, and jumped to her feet. With punch after punch she advanced, driving him back. "What, did you think I had forgotten my true nature?"

"Hardly," he replied, catching her next punch and stopping it cold. "I have business here, you came looking for me? Have you reconsidered my offer?"

Kicking at Dracula's head, Buffy pulled her fists free of his grasp. "No."

"Good, the offer is withdrawn," Dracula caught her next kick, and used it to flip Buffy over backwards.

Buffy landed face first on her front, and instantly tried to jump back up.

Dracula was faster, and pinned her down. One foot was pressed firmly down on her wrist, his other knee was on her back, and grasped her neck like a vice.

Leaning close, he tenderly whispered to her, "Do you prey for a swift death? Or do you want to die slowly to savor every moment of ebbing life?"

Buffy moved her free hand, trying to find something she could use as a weapon to get out from under the vampire's hold, but could find nothing. Footsteps.

She heard footsteps coming closer.

Black boots stepped in front of her face, and a sword tip hovered just above them.

The grip on her neck shifted slightly, and she lost consciousness.

"I told you not to interfere, I will handle this." D said.

Standing, Dracula looked from the unconscious Slayer to D. "I am wondering, was my trust in you misplaced?"

"We have had our disagreements, but I will settle things here."

Dracula looked away from D to the street, or halfway between the two. "Your mother..." he started. He did not continue the sentence. He could not bring himself to finish the sentence, and D did not want him to.

"I will not allow the Hellmouth to be reopened, and your interference has made my task harder."

"You know what I have done since arriving here tonight?" Dracula asked, looking at D. "There is much of your mother in you."

"I am not human, any more than I am vampire. I can never, truly, be part of either world."

"I will make a better world. One where Vampires rule all, none will dare shun you then. Just give me another four or five thousand years, and it will all be different."

"Will it be better? Do you really expect Vampires to be able to become noble?"

The two men faced each other, and in each they saw someone as alone as themselves, and no way to bridge the gap between them. Too much pain, and pride.

D spoke, "Go home. I said I would handle this situation, and I will."

Dracula did not speak as he turned and slowly walked away.

D waited until he was sure the elder vampire was gone, before bending down to scoop up the Slayer.

Buffy woke up on the back step with a killer headache, and the feeling that she was being watched. She was not ready to worry about that. If they had wanted her dead, she would be dead.

She stood up on shaky knees, and wondered what had happened for her to be there. Last thing she remembered was fighting Dracula on the streets. She supposed she won. She must have. She opened the door and went inside, it would be better to continue being passed out in her own bed.

The Twin Peaks parts were really unexpected. I was trying to explain how some of the concepts of this fanfic were like TP, and in order to explain it wound up pulling out the videos... and a new fan was born... and the thought came up of what if Tara was originally from Twin Peaks, and if so how much of the events of that series would she be aware of. Then of course things just started to get weird.

To sum up what is going on in this story... the demon Genom wishes to open a previously closed hell mouth... by bull dozing its seal and building an apartment complex on top of it... or maybe a wal mart. Doesn't really matter... but as Stonehenge is what has sealed the hell mouth, people would object if it were illegally destroyed, so a spell was cast to induce total apathy about the presence or destruction of the monument.

Dracula, having his own ideas about how the world should end, if at all, was opposed to Genom's plan and set about to stop his plan, either directly or by sending in other agents.

Upcoming chapters would have included Joyce and Dawn being kidnapped. Buffy would have rescued them with unexpected assistance from D, who gets in Buffy's way enough to allow the kidnapping demons to escape so he could follow them to their master.

There would also have been a chapter donated to a cameo from Oz... as it would have been impossible to avoid endless American Werewolf in London jokes... this would have also introduced a band of "White Hats" who attempt to keep the demon and vampire population down in the absence of a slayer. Buffy would be wary of the Hats for fear of what they would do to Dawn if they knew what she was. Spike's offer of information gets a few takers, although Spike doesn't care for the terms and winds up killing a few demons himself.

The apathy spell would have been broken, leading up to a showdown at Stonehenge... followed by a final battle between Buffy, D and Genom. And Yes, Genom is intended to be a reference to Bubblegum Crisis. 


End file.
